At the end of June, the group of Venezuelan revolutionaries who now make up the organisation LUCHAS, began publishing a series of twenty-four theses on the current situation in Venezuela, its causes and its consequences. At the time these first three theses were published, which we published here, they were still members of the organisation Marea Socialista, though increasingly critical of what they saw as MS’s decision to adopt a position of explicit opposition to the Bolivarian government. They presented themselves as Marea Socialista-Original Line. That was still the situation when a second group of four theses were published which we reprint below. Shortly after that, at the end of July, on what would have been Chavez’ 62nd birthday, they announced their decision to break with MS and set up the new organisation. Liga Unitaria Chavista y Socialista (LUCHAS) (IV)
24 Political Theses for debate (Part I)
10 October 2016, byAt the end of June, the group of Venezuelan revolutionaries who now make up the organisation LUCHAS, began publishing a series of twenty-four theses on the current situation in Venezuela, its causes and its consequences. At the time these first three theses were published, which we reprint below, they were still members of the organisation Marea Socialista, though increasingly critical of what they saw as MS’s decision to adopt a position of explicit opposition to the Bolivarian government. They presented themselves as Marea Socialista-Original Line. That was still the situation when a second group of four theses were published which we reprint here. Shortly after that, at the end of July, on what would have been Chavez’ 62nd birthday, they announced their decision to break with MS and set up the new organisation. Liga Unitaria Chavista y Socialista (LUCHAS) (IV)
We are leaving Marea Socialista and we will no longer call ourselves Marea Socialista-Original Line
4 August 2016For almost 10 years we have shared the same road with the comrades who today make up the organization known as Marea Socialista, and the dream of the Socialist, Chavista, Bolivarian Revolution. We were loyal to Chavez and his legacy, and for that reason we didn’t hesitate to raise our critical voice against everything that we considered wrong. We always looked to the working class and the students to organize together with them a big national current, first inside the PSUV and then outside it.
The lessons of Chavismo
22 April 2016, by ,The third anniversary of the death of the late President Hugo Chávez on March 5 was the occasion for several articles assessing 18 years of Chavista government in Venezuela—15 of them with Chávez in power and the last three under his successor, Nicolás Maduro.
The NPA Seven Years On: Project, Reality and Questions
27 February 2016, byThe following piece was written for Kojkkino, the theoretical magazine of the Greek organization DEA. Though quite long, it does not claim to cover all sides of the question. Indeed, it’s the kind of article that is never really finished and that has to be constantly reworked and supplemented. Its main objective is to stimulate collective thinking about the lessons of the successes and failures of the NPA from its birth to the present day.
Party and Movement
7 December 2015, by ,Olivier Besancenot is a postal worker and a member of the leadership of France’s Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (NPA). He first came to prominence in 2002 when, as an unknown twenty-eight-year old trade union militant, he ran for president as the candidate of the Ligue Communiste Revolutionaire (LCR), and managed to win 1.2 million votes (4.3 percent), including an impressive 14 percent of the youth vote.
Asking the Right Questions
18 September 2015, by ,The Left in Europe and beyond faces enormous challenges. What kind of political strategy do we need going forward?
The experience of Podemos in the Spanish State, its originality, its challenges
22 June 2015, byPresentation given by François Sabado at a meeting of the Société Louise Michel in Paris, May 28, 2015.
The Other Greek Left
24 April 2015, by ,Perhaps aside from Argentina, Greece has the world’s biggest and most diverse anticapitalist left — the product of decades of splits and rich anarchist and communist traditions. In contrast to the fragmentation and infighting predominant almost everywhere else, Greece is also one of the few countries in which most of these forces have succeeded in constructing a durable front of collaboration and activity, the Front of the Anticapitalist Left (Antarsya).
Although microscopic at an electoral level — and totally overshadowed in this domain by Syriza and the Communist Party (KKE) — Antarsya has real social roots and plays a crucial mobilizing and organizing role in a range of social movements. Here, Sebastian Budgen [for Jacobin online magazine] explores this complex and fascinating landscape with the scholar, activist, and leading figure of Antarsya, Panagiotis Sotiris.
The Left Party in Germany – An analysis
19 February 2015, byThe Left Party is fighting for “a society in which no child has to grow up poor, in which all men and women can live a self-determined life in peace, dignity, and social security and can democratically shape social relations.” In order to achieve this, it demands “a different economic and social system: democratic socialism.” That is how the Left Party formulated its programmatic approach in its new Erfurt Party Programme of 2011.